The Turners of Tearnside Hall and Wennington

Our first mention of Geoff's Taylor ancestors is with William and John Taylor, two farmers living at the amazing Tearnside Hall just outside Kirkby Lonsdale.  They were there in the 1841 Census along with a couple of servants, and later John Taylor married the servant girl 20 years his junior.  Her name was Ann Brunskill (another family worth researching).  John and Ann brought up their family at Tearnside Hall where John died in 1870.  A few years later Ann moved with her son, Edward (Geoff's great grandad) to Box Tree Farm, Wennington and Ann was still there in 1911 aged 86.

Both Geoff and myself have been to have a look at Tearnside Hall which has been on the market for quite a while judging by how overgrown the place is now.  It's still a fabulous house though, built in 1686 the plaque above the front door reads "IAB 1686".  It consists of farmhouse, barn and stables and there is even a priest's hole, which I could see when I looked through the window.  Tearnside Hall has got to be another project for the future - how long had the Taylors lived there?  How did they come to be there and where did they come from??  Who was "IAB"??

We also visited Box Tree Farm in Wennington, near Tatham and managed to get a photo but wasn't invited in by the owner (not like the chappie at Blands!)  Box Tree now is a sort of caravan site although the accommodation looks more like half tunnels (you need to go onto the website to see them!)  Geoff's grandad, Edward Taylor (son of Ann) eventually married the girl next door (over the River actually), Ellen Burrow, of Blands Farm - and that is most definitely another story.

Check out the photographs in the gallery.